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WINNING POSE. Filipino-Italian Silvia Celeste Cortesi shows the winning pose that has earned for her the title Miss Earth Philippines 2018 during the coronation night held at the Mall of Asia in Pasay City on Saturday, May 19, 2018. Lower panel shows (from left) Miss Earth Eco-tourism Halimatu Tanador Yushawu from Zamboanga Sibugay, Miss Earth Water Berjayneth Goc-Ong Chee from Balingasag, Misamis Oriental, Cortesi, Miss Philippines Air Zahra Bianca Saldua from Las Piñas City and Miss Philippines Fire Jean de Jesus from San Rafael, Bulacan. Revoli Cortez
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VOL. XXXII • NO. 95 • 3 SECTIONS 18 PAGES • P18 • MONDAY,, MAY 21, 2018 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net
Actress stuns Cannes crowd with Harvey revelation CANNES—Shoplifters, a heartwrenching family tale by Japanese veteran director Hirokazu Koreeda, won the Palme d’Or top prize at the Cannes film festival Saturday, at a ceremony marked by an emotional speech from a Harvey Weinstein accuser. Next page
Italian actress Asia Argento
Pimentel gives ‘blessings’to new Senate chief
‘Clear, present danger exists’
By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATE President Aquilino Pimentel III said Sunday he bears no grudges against his fellow senators for his impening replacement as head of the chamber. “No issue at all. Change will happen with my happy blessings. Change is coming soon,” said Pimentel, who will seek reelection in the mid-term elections in May 2019. Earlier reports said 14 senators signed a resolution supporting Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III as the next Senate president. Pimentel had earlier said he would be very willing to step down as the leader of the Senate so he can prepare for his reelection bid and the senatorial slate of PDP-Laban, of which he is the president. Members of the Senate majority bloc were expected to hold a caucus Monday to discuss the leadership change. Pimentel said he would gladly accept any committee that may be assigned to him by the majority or the new Senate president. “I have missed committee work the past year and nine months,” he said. Both Senators JV Ejercito and Manny Pacquiao said none of the senators were dissatisfied with Pimentel’s leadership. Pacquiao said Pimentel needs to focus on the election campaign since he is a candidate in the next elections. Ejercito dismissed talk that Pimentel would be removed in a coup, describing the choice of a new president “a reorganization.” Next page
Du30 vouches for Faeldon: He was hoodwinked By Joyce Pangco Pañares DESPITE a recommendation from the Office of the Ombudsman that criminal charges be brought against former Customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon over the smuggling of P6.4 billion worth of shabu in 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte said he still thinks his handpicked appointee is innocent and was just hoodwinked by syndicates. “Let’s talk about Fealdon. Why did I keep Faeldon in my administration? They say that he already has a case filed against him. [But] I don’t believe that Faeldon is involved in drugs. He was just sucked into the vortex,” Duterte said in a speech in Cebu City Saturday evening. Next page
FAELDON
Ex-NSA pushes action vs China deployment of bombers By Rio N. Araja and Macon Ramos-Araneta
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FORMER national security adviser and lawmakers on Sunday warned that China’s deployment of long-range H-6K bombers with nuclear strike capability on a disputed island in the South China Sea was a threat to the Philippines and urged the administration to file a diplomatic protest.
“This is a clear and present danger to the Philippines and our friends in the area,” said former national security adviser Roilo Golez, in an interview with the ANC news channel. He said the move should prompt President Rodrigo Duterte to convene the Na-
tional Security Council and for Manila to file a diplomatic protest. Golez, the national security adviser during the Arroyo administration, said the landing of the bombers on the disputed Woody Island was too big an escalation in the South China Sea for the
Philippines to ignore and predicted that China would land more bombers on the Spratly islands next. “I strongly recommend for the Philippines finally to lodge a very strong diplomatic protest because this development is very serious,” Golez told ANC in a mix of English and Filipino. Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano condemned the Chinese move. “It is crystal clear that China is strengthening its militarization of the South China Sea, having deployed an H-6K bomber aircraft after setting up a missiles system just last month,” he said. “I condemn the recent actions of China as this further erodes peace and stability in the region.” China earlier had put up military structures on the disputed islands, and on May 18, its defense ministry brought in the Next page
Five more gov’t officials lined up for Duterte’s ax By Joyce Pangco Pañares PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said he will fire five more government officials, including the head of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel, for their alleged involvement in graft and corruption. Duterte made the announcement in Cebu over the weekend days after he asked Justice Assistant Secretary Moslemen Macarambon Sr. and Public Works Assistant Secretary Tingagun Umpa to tender their resignations or be fired. Earlier this month, Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo had to resign over a controversial P60-million advertisement deal that benefited her brother’s company. “I’m inclined to fire somebody. I just want to talk to him before I do that. He is an undersecretary,” the President said during a gathering of local executives in Cebu City. “[Maybe] I will fire them in just one swoop. They are about five in the list … No offense intended but public office is still an opportunity really to make money,” he added. In a separate speech also in Cebu, Duterte said the head of the OGCC, Rudolf Jurado, is also on the chopping Next page block.
OIL WELL. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte leads the ceremonial valve opening for the oil and gas production of the Alegria Oil Field in Alegria, Cebu on May 19, 2018. Presidential Photo
Cebu oil find teems with vast reserves—Energy dept PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte says the Philippines will earn at least P82 million a month from the Alegria Oil Field in southern Cebu that the Energy department says holds commercial quantities of natural gas and oil. He made the statement after leading the ceremonial opening of the Alegria Oilfield Polyard-3 Well Site over the weekend. “We have been lagging behind our neighbors, and not because we are lazy
or poor. But in terms of natural resources, we are behind Indonesia because they have oil. We are behind Brunei because it is awash in oil,” Duterte said. “If the Philippines had the resources and if we managed our revenues well, we would have long ago achieved parity. Our progress and development would have already been equal to theirs... Now there is wealth that can be found in Alegria.” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the
two wells of the Alegria Oil Field, which he described as a major breakthrough in the country’s quest for energy security, could produce 360 barrels a day. He said initial studies showed that the oil field could support a 60-megawatt plant, which could help improve the power supply in the Visayas. “It will help the economy because it will support the local industry using Next page crude oil,” Cusi said.